Lombard International Assurance, the Luxembourg- and Philadelphia-based provider of life insurance-based wealth products for high-net-worth investors, said it has been awarded a license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for its Singapore subsidiary, Lombard International Singapore Pte Ltd, as its previously-announced plans to enter the Asian HNWI market progressed.

The new Singapore office was first announced in January, along with a Hong Kong office, as it began what has been a year of announcements of new offices. Lombard International has been expanding rapidly around the world over the past 11 months, under the ownership of the Blackstone private equity group, which acquired it in 2014 from its then-owners, Friends Provident.

Tammy Lu Tsui, as reported here in January, heads up the new office in her role as chief executive of Lombard International, Asia. She said the launch of the company’s brokerage operations in Singapore “further demonstrates our commitment and ambition to grow our presence in Asia”.

In a statement, Lombard International said that the new licence would enable the company to expand its brokerage capabilities in the region, is it would complement its existing Hong Kong brokerage office, launched earlier this year.

“Both subsidiaries will serve local market needs, and act as gateways for future expansion opportunities across Asia,” the statement said.

The new offices are located in the Asia Square Tower 1 building on Marina View road, about two blocks from Marina Bay and in the heart of Singapore’s business and financial district.

Lombard specialises in unit-linked life insurance and private placement insurance, with a particular concentration on the high net worth and institutional end of the market, while also catering for the bank-owned and corporate-owned insurance market. It has global assets under administration of more than US$80bn (£64.52bn), and employs more than 500 people. In addition to offices in Luxembourg, Philadelphia, Singapore and Hong Kong, it also now has offices in Paris, Brussels and New York.

It is one of a number of life companies based in Luxembourg which take advantage of certain features of that country’s regulatory structure to market a particular type of single premium bond to high-net worth individuals keen for a safe and tax efficient place to park their wealth.